Digimon Fan Fiction ❯ Barbed Wire and Roses ❯ I ( Chapter 1 )

Disclaimer: I state no claim to the popular anime Digimon, it belongs to it's respective owners. I'm merely writing a fanfictional story based on its characters. It does not belong to ME. The story, however, does and I ask that no one write a sequel or short story based on it with out my consent. Thank you-

Barbed Wire and Roses

Chapter One

Mimi Tachikawa stepped out of her little silver Pontiac and lifted a delicate, long-fingered hand to shade her eyes against the sharp brightness of the late afternoon sun. A chill wind snatched at her jacket and cut through her cotton shirt to her skin. The southern California winter was cooler than she'd remembered but it was hardly comparable to what she'd experienced in New York City.

She'd stopped at the town's cheapest gas station, shaking her head at the prices. A dollar ninety-eight a gallon, this place hasn't changed one bit! Saddened by how untrue that thought was, she walked into the little building called the Bottle Shop to pay for the gas she'd pumped and buy a pack of gum.

Getting into her car, Mimi entered the town's pathetic excuse for traffic and preceded to drive her way past everything she'd remembered from her childhood. The same Burger King, the same Vons, the same everything. At least on the outside. The familiarity of it all brought tears to her eyes and a knot to her throat. Everything should have been different. If things had been different, it might have been easier to handle.

She remembered the day she'd left. Her father had been screaming at her, telling her what a disappointment she'd been, throwing things across the living-room, breaking pictures; the tears coursing down his face like rain. Now she'd never see his face again and it hurt her that, that would be that last image of him she had.

With an effort, Mimi banished the memory and focused solely on her driving. Before she knew it, she was turning down an old dirt road, the small car bouncing over rocks and bumps. She pulled in front of a blue and gray house, the feeling of finally coming home hitting her like a punch in the gut as she realized that this house with all its memories, would never be home again.

Opening the gate, Mimi took her first hesitant step onto her parents' property in three years. It was strange, the emotions running through her were familiar, the same emotions she experienced when she dreamed or thought of this place. Of how everything had been before she'd left. Back when she was a happy little nineteen year old with no past and every future she dared to dream up. She continued walking, stepping on the biggest of bricks in the pattern of the walkway in a long forgotten habit from her childhood.

The door opened before she reached the concrete porch and Mimi stared at the pretty red-head looking out at her, brown eyes curious.

"Mimi?" The voice was kind and had always reminded her of the good things in life. A smile stretched the corners of her lips despite the circumstances.

"Hello, Sora." The girl rushed out the door and swooped her up in a hug before any more words could be said. Mimi felt tears prick the back of her eyes, but told herself she would-not-cry as she hugged her long-time friend.

"I've missed you so much, Mimi!" Sora said, releasing her and placing her hands at her sides, awkward and embarrassed by her outburst.

"I've missed you too. I wrote you a few letters, but you never wrote me back, I was wondering-"

"I got them." Sora interrupted immediately, "but I couldn't think of anything to write back, you know I'm not that good at writing down my thoughts."

"Sorry," Mimi replied automatically, then looked around the front yard, trying to think of something to delay going inside. She didn't want to go into the house just yet. She wasn't sure she was ready to face the stress that would put on her emotions. Sora, with the same uncanny ability she'd possessed as a teenager, seemed to read her thoughts.

"You have to go in there sometime. Pacing yourself is good in a race, Mimi, but despite what the psychologists think, when it comes to things like this, taking it all at once is better. At least it will be for you. You've never been good at pacing yourself anyway, it just drains you out as fast and you don't get as far. You know that better than anyone." Mimi nodded, reluctantly conceding defeat as she followed Sora into the house.

They walked through the living room and she noticed with a shock that her parents had fixed the pictures and placed them all back in their proper places. Mother must have done it. She figured; her mother hated to have anything out of place and was joined at the hip with traditional lifestyles. Mimi had resented every lecture about cooking, sewing, and the importance of raising children and finding the right man when she was a teenager.

Now, she'd have given anything to hear one of those lectures as she walked into the kitchen. The house was exactly as it had always been. Or how she'd always remembered it. Blue and white triangle tile, white counters with porcelain sinks, and the stove and refrigerator in the same places. The walls were the same light blue with country blue cabinets.

"My room…?" Mimi asked, dread coiling like a snake around her intestines as Sora nodded and led the way through the game room and den and out the sliding glass doors into the garden.

Mimi's old room was actually an apartment separate from the main house. The door swung open and Sora stood to the side so that she'd enter first. The room, to her relief, was exactly as she'd left it, hamster cages and all. She remembered the day she'd left, she'd had twenty-six hamsters of varying colors, though her favorites had been the blacks she'd bred. She wondered what had happened to them, knowing they'd escaped from the holes chewed through the plastic tubes attached to the cages. Dust and spider webs coated the rooms, but the black paint was still on the walls, even though her father had hated that his daughter had wanted to break away from the normal, everyday teenage girl and do her room in black with medieval pictures, but she'd gotten tired of the color pink, stuffed animals, and fluffy clouds she'd loved up until she was fifteen.

She sighed. There were so many things her father had hated about his daughter. Though she never doubted that he'd loved her, it was sometimes hard to remind herself that he'd liked her at all.

"Will you be staying here?" Sora interrupted her thoughts to ask. Mimi shook her head.

"I don't think I'd ever be able to sleep here. There's to many memories I'd have to deal with, I'll just check into a hotel tonight after we're done here for as long as it takes to take care of everything. Have any suggestions?" Sora taped her index finger against one high cheekbone and smiled.

"I hear the Lazy Pine Lodge is high on the recommendations around here. But it's kind of high up in the mountains, I could show you the way if you like?"

"Perfect! I don't really want to spend to much time among civilization anyway. I've had enough of that to last me a lifetime."

****

It was well past ten by the time Mimi pulled her silver Pontiac into the parking lot behind her friend's new red Mustang. She glanced hastily over what was visible of the main building in the darkness before shutting the car down and stepping out. Grabbing her two suitcases, she stepped out of the car just as Sora came up behind her.

"Anything I can help with?" She asked. Mimi shook her head and they walked across the almost empty gravel lot to the building with the flashing VACANCY sign over the door. A small bell rang as they entered and the middle-aged blonde at the desk looked up and smiled.

"Good evening ladies, may I help you?" She greeted, pushing her glasses higher up onto her nose.

"Yes, actually." Sora said, taking control with an ease that contradicted her shy manner. "My friend here will be in the area for several months and needs a place to stay-"

"We have several suites open at the moment, though only one will be free for an extended period of time." The woman informed them eagerly. "I could call for someone to show you the room and if it suits your needs-"

"Thank you, but I'm really tired, anything you have will suit my needs at the moment. If you'd just tell me the price to stay here for a few nights, I'll pay you now." Mimi interrupted, not willing to spend all night discussing a room. The woman nodded, gave her the price for a week, then when money was exchanged, handed over the key with the room number twenty-eight on it.

"Now, you just follow the wooden path to the end and you'll see it." Mimi nodded and thanked her before leaving the small room with Sora. They stood under the lamp together for a few minutes in silence.

"You want me to come with you, help you put everything away?" Sora asked finally. Mimi shook her head.

"Thanks, but I'll be fine, all I'm going to do is throw my crap on the floor and go to sleep anyway. Goodnight, Sora, I'll see you tomorrow."

"I'll swing by and pick you up at eight okay?"

"No, I'll just drive out there."

"Alright then, goodnight."

"Bye." Sora looked her over sympathetically, but before she could even open her mouth to speak, Mimi interrupted her.

"Don't say anything Sora, just let me sleep tonight. We'll talk about things tomorrow." She finished with a firm good night and turned toward her room with suitcases in hand; leaving Sora standing alone in the parking lot.

Mimi walked down the wooden path without noticing anything around her, though the surrounding forest was illuminated by silver moonlight and would have been beautiful had she taken the time to look. She only registered that she'd reached her room when the path ended at the railing of a balcony. Blinking her eyes slowly, she tried to read the numbers on the two doors. They both looked like twenty-eight to her, but one might have been twenty-three; she wasn't sure with the blurryness that had crept into her vision.

Choosing the one that looked the most like the number she wanted, she gripped the knob to unlock the door, but it turned without the key and she entered the dark room. Well, this definitely isn't Motel 6. She thought, with the touch of sarcastic humor she'd picked up while in New York and seemed always to accompany her, no matter where she went or what the situation.

She set her suitcases down and used her foot to shut the door, then searched the wall with her hands until she found a light switch and flipped it up. Light flooded the room but Mimi didn't spare it any glance as she kicked off her shoes and unbuttoned her jeans to let them fall to the floor. Standing in her shirt, she finally looked around, searching for something resembling a bedroom.

She spied an open door across the room, a rectangle of yellow light resting on the end of a bed. A feeling of longing so strong it made her knees weak swept through her and she stumbled toward the room, leaving the light on as she fantasized about sleeping. She was surprised she was so tired, since she hadn't even thought of sleep after she received Sora's tearful call three days before.

Finally! She thought as she stretched herself across the width of the bed, her eyes closed in preparation of sleep. But she snapped to full wakefulness when the bed beneath her groaned and moved. With a shriek of surprise and fear, Mimi leapt from the bed and stared with wide eyes as the blanket was tossed wildly to the side to reveal the shadowy form of a man.

"Who are you!? What are you doing here?!" He demanded in a deep, sensual voice as he lurched clumsily to his feet.

Oh, my… Mimi blushed and looked away when he stepped into the light from the doorway, giving her a clear, full view of his naked body and she found herself stuttering.

"I-I'm s-s-sorry, I g-guess I got the w-wrong room." Scared and confused, Mimi bolted from the room and out the door before the man could say or do anything. Once outside, she ran to the other door and immediately realized her mistake. Fully awake, without the fuzziness of exhaustion clouding her eyes, she saw clearly that what she'd taken for a twenty-three had been the twenty-eight and the other one had really been a twenty-nine. Embarrassed, she used her key to open the right door and prayed as she folded back the covers. I hope to hell I never have to face that man again! It wasn't until she began to drift into sleep that she remembered her suitcases.

*****

Yamato Ishida stared at the door the mysterious woman had fled through; half hoping she would come back for the suitcases she had left in his living room.

In the two years that he'd owned and lived at Lazy Pine Lodge, he'd never had anyone mistakenly enter his room and he found the situation amusing. I doubt the lady does though. He thought with a smile, remembering how she'd fled his room. He glanced down at the suitcases by his door and thought fleetingly of going through them, but he erased the thought and moved to lock the door to prevent any more unwelcome visitors.

The unknown woman remained stubbornly in his thoughts as he made his way back to the warmth of his bed. Something about her had reached out to him when she'd been standing by his bed, stammering out an excuse. She'd seemed so vulnerable and scared that it had touched him somewhere inside. That just a few moments with her could affect him when he hadn't seen her face and they hadn't touched disturbed him. Scared and vulnerable women weren't his style anyway, he'd always been more attracted to females who were passionate and independent, but he had a feeling that the shadowy woman was something else. He'd have to chase her down tomorrow, or better yet, make her come to him; he did have her suitcases after all.